Don't forget to catch me
by MissLala73
Summary: A family in meltdown, secrets & lies. Will Millie remain objective enough to convince Max that she knows what she is doing?
1. Chapter 1

The title of this story is taken from 'Hobart Paving' by St Etienne. Do look it up, it's a really lovely song.

Millie walked into the bathroom, carefully negotiating the half-open door with two steaming mugs of coffee. She set one down next to the sink and sank down on the blanket box against the wall, pulling her legs up so that her feet rested on the chest, holding the other mug close. She blew onto the liquid, looking up through her lashes at the man washing himself in her shower. So far, the noise of the water and the steam had rendered him unaware of her presence but somehow he seemed to feel her stare and looked round to her.

"Brought you your coffee" she nodded towards the mug. Max smiled his thanks and stepped back into the water raining on him from above to rinse the shampoo out of his hair, lifting his chin and closing his eyes to avoid the soap. Millie continued to watch him, committing the sight to her memory, it would help her get through the more uneventful periods of her day and make the paperwork less mundane. She watched the shampoo suds trickle over the musculature of his body, defining each ridge that her fingers had been lazily exploring just an hour or so before. Her eyes and fingers knew every inch of his body better than she knew her own, that was his responsibility and one he took equally seriously as she did. She smiled to herself but Max had opened his eyes and noticed her amusement.

"What are you looking so satisfied about?" he called while busily helping himself to her shower gel, slowly lathering it over his body in a way he knew she would approve of. This was just one of their little games, he knew she liked to watch him but he preferred her to join him. Max held out his hand to invite her into the water but after a momentary hesitation Millie shook her head.

"Don't want to get my hair wet." Max pushed out his lower lip as a sulky little boy might do but resigning himself to her immutable response he rinsed himself before switching off the shower. He emerged dripping water from his body and grabbed a towel. Millie was reminded of Daniel Craig rising from the sea in whichever Bond film it was that he tried to make her watch last night, only this was better, much better. She was far more likely to stay awake for her own real life version.

Her robe had slipped down, exposing alabaster skin. Too enticing to ignore, Max ran his fingers down her neck and along her shoulder.

"I thought you wanted to be in work early today?" Millie smiled up at him, she knew where this would lead.

_Damn_, he thought, _I did as well_, but the thought of work paled into insignificance next to the woman seated beneath him. She unfurled her legs to stretch them out, her robe slipping further as she did but making no effort to right it. Max watched her move and silently took the mug from her hands, placing it next to his on the counter top. He knelt and settled in between her knees drawing the robe down over her other shoulder, loosely but effectively pinning her arms to her side. He sat back on his heels to admire her dishevelled state. Her hair tumbled over bare shoulders, its colour in striking contrast to her skin. Pleased with himself he rested his hands on her ankles and ran them up her outstretched legs, so smooth, so toned, each inch of skin was nothing but pure delight. As his hands reached her upper thighs under the robe, he leaned into her once more, his mouth seeking hers, excitement building but thwarted as she deftly ducked away and whispered in his ear.

"You really did want to go in early. You'll be so pissed off later if you don't."

Max groaned with frustration and dropped his forehead onto her shoulder.

"No I won't. Please Millie just one kiss…" he pleaded.

"It never is just one kiss though. I'm doing this for your own good, sacrificing myself as always" she continued in mock piety. "Everyone will call you Mr Grumpy and I couldn't bear to have that on my conscience." Her tone was haughty but her expression was suffused with love and warmth that filled every part of him.

"I don't care" he wailed up at her.

"You will later. Now, stop dripping water all over my bathroom floor and get dressed."

"Love it when you get stern" he murmured cheekily into her neck.

"You love it however I get."

"I know."

"Get dressed, Acting DI Carter."

Millie closed the apartment door behind him, listening to his footsteps jog down the half flight of stairs to the car park. She smiled and nestled into her robe, still able to detect his lingering scent in it from when he had kissed her goodbye. It was a deeply languorous kiss that threatened to go on forever. Both wished that it could but reality was never far enough away and eventually Max was the one to detached himself sorrowfully. Shift patterns and other commitments meant that he most likely wouldn't be able to stay over again for a couple of days but as he had almost moved in since Becksy & Jasper had moved out, there were plenty of his belongings about the place to remind her of him. He liked that. As Millie heard his car start, she ruefully considered the first reminder was the half-flooded bathroom she needed to clear up before getting herself ready for her own shift.


	2. Chapter 2

Millie wandered into the station in good time for her shift, as usual. She was still feeling the glow of waking up with Max and so lost in her thoughts that she almost walked straight into Mel who wasn't looking where she was going either, chatting on her mobile. Both mumbled their apologies and Mel ended her call.

"Everything okay?" asked Mel.

"Yeah, sure. Why?"

"You just look a bit spaced out."

"Oh, really? I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Mmm? Anyone I know?" joked Mel. Millie's blush deepened as she heard Max's voice barking an order from the corridor ahead.

"Don't be silly" muttered Millie, turning away to hide her embarrassment, wishing the ground would open up for her.

"You are, aren't you?" asked Mel, her eyes open wide with excitement at the potential gossip. "Come on, who is it?"

"No one, stop it" hissed Millie.

"You're not getting off that easily, I'll wheedle it out of you by the end of the day, tomorrow tops. You know it."

**********

Max returned to his office. That was still a peculiar thought to him, but it was still only day three of his temporary promotion after all. DI Manson had been seconded to Serious and Organised Crime for at least three months although it was generally believed unlikely that he would be back. Nobody had been more surprised than Max to be told by Meadows that the role of Acting DI was his if he wanted it, making it clear that he'd noticed the change in Max's attitude in recent months. He was less aggressive, better at listening and more forgiving of his colleagues. Max took the compliments, but when Meadows asked what had brought about the transformation, Max was evasive, believing the truth wouldn't be helpful, the truth being Millie and her influence over him. Of course, he still wasn't the consummate diplomat, but definitely easier to be around and Meadows was willing to give him a chance. Max didn't hesitate in accepting, of course he wanted it. He had always been ambitious, that was no secret, but in the past it had been for selfish reasons. Now, somewhere in the back of his mind was the knowledge that his life didn't just belong to him anymore, that one day he would need to support more than just himself. If he could make a good job of it during this 'acting' period, with any luck the permanent role would be his for the taking. This thought in mind, Max turned his attention back to the pile of files in front of him, finally understanding why Manson rarely seemed to leave the prison-like cubicle he was now sitting in. He'd have to figure out a way of legitimately getting out of the office before the paperwork sent him insane.

*************

"And finally, Roger, Millie? You two take the Jasmine Allen. Just show the locals you are about, nice low key presence. I've got a couple of calls for you to follow up on, but otherwise be your friendly smiling selves." Inspector Smith gave his instruction cheerfully but Millie and Roger looked at each other in mutual grimace. They really had drawn the short straw today. The Jasmine Allen was notorious for trouble, even on a quiet day.

Roger and Millie finished with their first call to an elderly woman who had been mugged the day before. Fortunately the mugger had been caught and her handbag recovered, albeit empty of cash which no doubt had found its way to one of the local dealers. The woman however was clearly shaken and grateful for the visit. Two rounds of tea and biscuits later Roger and Millie emerged from her flat feeling pleased with their bit of public service. That was until they heard shouting from the floor above.

"There's been a lot of that this morning. Usually it's just the baby screaming, but now they're all at it. Never a moment of peace round here" muttered the elderly woman. The shouting escalated into screaming. A man and a woman, with a baby providing a backing track.

"I suppose we'd better see what all this is about" sighed Roger but Millie was already heading for the stairs. He followed but had little doubt that it would be fairly run of the mill for this estate, a dysfunctional family unit, domestic abuse, substance abuse, any or all of the above. They would offer help which would be refused and the cycle would continue until someone got seriously hurt.

Roger caught up with Millie by the time she got to the top of the stairs. It was obvious from the noise that the disturbance came from the first flat they reached. The door was wide open and the hallway littered with clothes and papers. A woman's voice was pleading, begging.

"I'm sorry, so sorry! Why can't you listen to me? I know it should never have happened, I shouldn't have done it but I can't go back now. Can't we -"

"Can't we what? Pretend it never happened? Pretend you didn't whore yourself out to my best mate?"

"Don't say it like that. It wasn't like that and you know it." The woman had found some strength from his insult and launched her own attack. "If you hadn't spent every waking minute in the pub then maybe none of this would have happened" she was screaming again, setting off the baby once more.

"Can't you shut her up?" shouted the man spitefully. "You're no better as a mother than you are as a wife."

"You bastard." The woman's scream was bloodcurdling now. Millie looked quickly at Roger, telling him silently that they had to go in before something dreadful took place.

"Police! What's going on?" she called into the open doorway, checking it was safe before stepping in. The mess continued through the flat, the kitchen floor strewn with broken crockery and what looked like tea, possibly coffee, splashed over one wall, its mug in pieces on the floor below.

"What do you want?" demanded the man. Millie turned quickly to find a well-built man in his early thirties staring at her furiously from the doorway to what looked like the living room.

"We were downstairs and heard shouting. Came to check everyone is okay." Millie spoke quietly but confidently, keeping eye contact with the man who was now standing just a couple of feet in front of her.

"We're fine. Thanks for your concern, but … Lisa would you shut that kid up!" The man held a hand to his head as if trying to protect himself from the noise. Lisa held the inconsolable child and hovered behind the man, clearly agitated but not scared, Millie thought. Roger tried to step in and touched the man's arm to guide him away from Lisa and Millie but he was violently shrugged off with a growl. Roger took a step back, not wanting to aggravate the man any further. The man flashed a quick look at Millie, it was almost apologetic, vulnerable even. There was something in him she recognised. Too much pride, she thought, too defensive to let anyone help and yet spiralling out of control.

"I'm PC Millie Brown, what's your name?"

The man hesitated, that look again. Sadness mixed with confusion and loss. "Mike. Mike Sumner." Roger could see that Millie was succeeding where he had failed and quietly ushered Lisa and the still crying baby back into the sitting room, leaving Millie and Mike, who seemed unaware of the movement behind him, alone in the kitchen.

"So, Mike. What's going on?"

Mike slumped onto a chair at the kitchen table, his head in his hands. Millie slid into a chair opposite him, looking on with concern. "The kid isn't mine."

"Oh." Millie decided the best way to handle this was to let him go at his own pace, giving him the chance to calm down and the peace he needed to think.

"I got out of the army on medical discharge just over a year and a half ago. Post traumatic stress." He gave a little laugh laced with contempt. "But I tell you this, the Taliban couldn't manage to do half as much to me in seven years that my wife did in about five minutes this morning." Mike looked up and Millie found herself staring into eyes so full of pain and rejection that she had to fight the urge to reach out and touch him, to offer some comfort but his reaction to Roger had been so severe that she doubted he would accept her either.

"Do you want to tell me what happened? You don't have to."

Mike hesitated for a moment, but Millie could see that he wanted to talk and gave him a small smile of encouragement.

"What's to tell? I got out, my best mate was back on leave, needed a place to stay for a few days so he crashed here. Seems that's when it happened. They fucked and she got knocked up, letting me believe I was the father ever since."

"What happened this morning? Did you find out or did Lisa tell you?"

"I was out drinking with my 'mate' last night, night before I can't remember. We got in a bit of a ruck about something, I don't know what set it off but he told me I didn't deserve Lisa, that she ought to be with him but she was too blind to see it. When I came home this morning and accused her of sleeping with him, I wanted her to deny it, but she didn't, then I just got thinking, what if the kid wasn't mine as well?" Mike stopped and stared at the table. When he eventually continued, his words were hollow. "She didn't deny that either. Abby isn't mine, she's his. Everything I had is … gone."

This time Millie couldn't stop herself, she reached out to touch him. For all his physical strength, the man sat in front of her was ready to break into pieces, she hoped her touch would give him something to hold on to but instead it seemed to be the catalyst driving him further into his own hellish descent. He jerked away and stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair.

"I need a drink."

"No Mike, you don't. Please sit down" Millie rose and followed him towards the doorway to the hall.

Mike swung round to her. "What do you know? None of this means anything to you, it's none of your business."

"Mike please" Millie pleaded with him and instinctively reached out to him again but before her hand even landed on his arm, he roughly shoved her aside, as if defending himself from her attack. Millie was caught off balance and landed heavily against the wall, knocking her head on a shelf in the process. She yelped as much from shock as pain and thought she was seeing things when Max burst into the flat through the still open doorway and slammed Mike up against the wall with his arms pinned behind his back. The two men were evenly matched but Max had the advantage of surprise and held Mike pretty easily despite his struggling.

"What the hell is going on?" Max demanded. "Where's Roger? Stop struggling!"

"What? What are you doing here? Millie touched a hand to her head and felt the dampness of blood on her fingers, wincing. She wasn't entirely sure that any of this was actually happening. It wouldn't have seemed any more surreal had Max ridden in dressed in full shining armour on a large white horse. That was clearly the role he thought he was playing. As the pain subsided Millie took stock of the situation in front of her. "Max, put him down. It was an accident."

"Let. Me. Go" shouted Mike into the wall. Reluctantly Max relaxed his grip on Mike. He swung round and they faced each other angrily. After a few seconds of eye-to-eye stand-off Mike backed down and looked over to Millie. "I'm sorry, didn't mean that to happen. Are you okay?" Millie nodded, giving him her own silent apology for Max's over the top reaction. Mike grabbed his coat from the floor. "I'm going. Look, thanks for listening, but really, there's nothing you can do." As he disappeared through the door, Millie pushed past Max and ran after him along the walkway towards the stairs.

"Wait! Mike, wait!" Mike stopped but didn't turn round. "Please, don't do anything stupid. Here's my number. I really do want to help."

"Why?" he finally looked back at her.

Millie couldn't answer honestly. What would he make of her saying that she saw something in him that reminded her of Max at his lowest. That she knew lost hope and knew how it could be turned around. Mike and Lisa's problems might be huge, but perhaps there might be a future for them if they both tried.

"I just do" was all she could say instead, pushing her card into his hand and allowing him to walk away.

"You still haven't answered my question" Millie reminded Max coolly. He shut his eyes and raised a hand to his forehead. Fool to think he'd get away with it.

"I was in the next block meeting an informant and heard all the shouting. When I saw the car I thought I'd come along and see if anyone needed a hand." Millie looked at him balefully.

"Really? I'm surprised you would have time to give a helping hand to uniform on a domestic incident." Max looked sheepish. "Unless… did you know I was here? Did you call in to the station to find out?"

"Umm, well. Yes." Millie's expression turned from one of bewilderment to incredulity. Max knew instantly that he was in trouble.

"What?"

"Well what do you expect me to do? Just walk away?"

"I don't expect you to check up on me at work."

"I wasn't checking up on you, I heard all the noise and just wanted to make sure you were safe. I couldn't get in the car and leave knowing something was kicking off with you in the middle of it."

"Nothing was 'kicking off'. Roger and I are perfectly capable of …"

"The guy hit you and Roger was nowhere to be seen. What did you think I was going to do?"

"He didn't hit me. I lost my balance and hit the edge of that shelf. Stupid place to put a shelf anyway." Millie suddenly realised they had an audience to their dispute when Lisa offered a muslin cloth to wipe away the trickle of blood rolling down the side of her cheek. Max snatched it from her hand, folded it into a wad and pressed it gently to the side of Millie's face. Intrigued, Roger watched the intimate scene playing in front of him. Max's ministrations and Millie's acquiescence were not a typical example of uniform-CID teamwork yet both seemed entirely comfortable with each other. Roger quietly suggested to Lisa that they return to the sitting room, although natural curiosity begged him not to.

"Sorry. I know I shouldn't have barged in. But honestly, what else could I do? I can't turn away if I think someone is trying to hurt you."

"I know. I know. But you do have to let me get on with my job. I don't need rescuing."

"Well you do sometimes."

Millie stared at him through narrowed eyes. "I know what you're talking about and you're on dangerous ground there, so watch it."

"Okay, okay. I get the message. I'll go and leave you to it." Swiftly looking around to make sure their audience was now out of sight, Max pressed his lips first to her temple which had stopped bleeding and then to her lips, catching the lower between his for a tantalising few seconds, claiming her reluctant forgiveness.


	3. Chapter 3

As ever, thank you to the girls for their reviews …

As the door closed behind him, Millie sighed, closed her eyes and gathered herself together in anticipation of Roger's inevitable questioning look. Feeling as ready as she was ever going to be, she turned back towards the half closed sitting room door and calmly walked through as if nothing unusual had just taken place. She was jolted back to the reality of the situation however by the stricken features of Lisa seated on the sofa with a now sleeping baby clinging to her jumper. Lisa was staring blindly at the floor, ignoring Roger who was watching her sympathetically. He glanced at Millie quizzically, but Lisa immediately recaptured his attention.

"I suppose he told you everything" she stated in dull monotone, not even looking up to Millie.

Millie hesitated and realised that Mike hadn't actually told her very much at all. She had inferred more than he had expressed in words and while she felt for him acutely, she could also see that Lisa was hardly unharmed by what had happened. She was just as much a victim as he was. "Only that he believes he isn't Abby's father. Then he said he needed a drink, I tried to stop him but …" Millie trailed off. She guessed that Lisa would know the rest.

Lisa bit her lip and looked out of the window. Millie followed her gaze but couldn't see how that would help. Perhaps it would if the view had been pleasant but there was only graffiti ravaged concrete and greyness. It would be depressing at the best of times, but now it did nothing but emphasise her despair. Millie and Roger could only watch on as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

"He's been drinking almost constantly since he got back from Afghanistan. I know some of his mates died out there, some sort of ambush I think, but what can I do, how could I have helped him if he won't talk about it? All he does is drink, sleep and then drink some more. Sometimes he comes home but not always, I don't know where he goes. We haven't had a proper conversation in months." She gave out a sob as a wave of hopelessness overcame her. "If only he hadn't been out drinking that night. If only I hadn't let Dan in, but then I wouldn't have Abby and that's an unbearable thought. I don't know what I'm supposed to think or how I should feel. I just wish Abby was his and none of this had happened." Lisa clutched the sleeping baby tightly and cried, her body heaving with each sob. Roger moved from the armchair to sit next to her on the sofa, putting an arm round her shoulders. She leaned into him and slowly calmed, the sleepy snuffling from her baby bringing her back to the reality she had to face. Millie looked around and started to collect up a few things from the floor placing them on a wonky coffee table if only to clear a path to be able to walk through to Roger's vacated chair.

"Is there anyone you can call to come and stay with you? Help clear up a bit?" Millie mentally kicked herself for assuming that this wasn't how the Sumners normally lived but she was relieved when Lisa appeared to notice the chaos around her for the first time.

"Oh God. What a state" she whispered, looking up to Millie again and slowly shaking her head in bewilderment. "He just went mad, throwing anything he could get his hands on. But what else did I expect? 'Never mind Lisa, let's have a cup of tea and forget about it'?" Millie wished she could give some kind of encouragement to Lisa, to tell her that everything would work itself out, but even in her head the words were nothing more than a trite platitude and Lisa was intelligent enough to realise that.

"Did Mike threaten you or Abby in any way?"

"No. No, he wouldn't do that. At least I don't think he would. But he's changed so much …" Millie felt herself fill with compassion for this broken family, it was clearly fractured before Lisa's revelation but now seemed beyond hope.

"You ought to have someone here with you though" she suggested kindly.

"I can call my Mum, she only lives five minutes away. I guess I'll have to tell her everything as well" Lisa sighed. "She'll say that I'm better off without him. Not that I think I've got a choice anymore."

Millie and Roger stayed with Lisa until she spoke to her mother who agreed to come over immediately. Silently Millie wondered if Lisa was actually starting to come to terms with her new future already. Perhaps she was relieved the burden of carrying such an explosive secret for so long was over, even if it meant the end of the world as she knew it. Millie was beginning to feel that way herself.

*********

"Well, I think we had better get you back to the station to see the FME and find a fresh shirt" announced Roger as they got back into the car.

"I'm fine, it's just a bang and a scratch."

"Millie, you haven't seen yourself. You might like to look as if you've just gone ten rounds with Lennox Lewis, but trust me, I don't think it's appropriate on this estate to walk round bleeding. People will wonder who you've just laid into."

"Really? That bad?" Millie flipped down the sun shield in front of her to take a look in the mirror. "Heavens! I see what you mean." There was a nasty looking gash on her temple where Max had earlier staunched the bleeding, but dried blood was smudged down the side of her face by her ear and spots of crimson stained her shirt collar. She really did look as though she'd been in a brawl.

"So what do you make of all that?" asked Roger as she inspected the damage for herself.

"A mess. She really is paying the price for one mistake isn't she? But then, so is he." Millie snapped the shield back into place and sat back in her seat, turning to Roger, her expression concerned. "I'm worried about him. He's on the edge and I know Lisa doesn't think he'll do anything other than drink, but I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Bearing in mind his PTSD, the shock, losing his family, his best friend, his career, he could do anything, to anyone or himself" she paused and closed her eyes. "I should have stopped him leaving."

"You did all you could. All anyone could. I don't think staying in the flat would have done him or Lisa any good. Maybe they'll both be able to think clearly on their own for a while."

"He isn't going to do any thinking Roger, he's going straight to the first pub he finds and won't come out until either he runs out of money or they throw him out."

"You may be right Millie, but what can we do? There's no crime, he hasn't hit her, hasn't threatened her at all from what Lisa said. It's something they are going to have to work out themselves. We can't get involved."

"I know, I know. You're right, but still… I don't have a good feeling about this. I think we should drop in later if we can, and definitely tomorrow. Just to check everything's okay, or as okay as it can be."

"Hmm. Ever thought you might have missed you calling as a social worker?"  
"Ugh! No! Fate worse than death" she replied with a laugh relieved at Roger's efforts to lighten the atmosphere.

"Quite a surprise to see Max there" commented Roger lightly on the back of his joke as he started the engine. The statement sounded innocent, but Millie was perfectly aware that she was really being asked a question. She wondered whether she might just be able to sidestep and get away without having to give an explanation for their odd behaviour in the flat.

"Yeah, didn't expect that. He said he was in the block already and came to see what all the noise was about."

"Seemed rather concerned about you."

Millie sighed, _no chance then_, she thought, but relieved that if anyone had to have witnessed them together, that it was Roger. At least he wouldn't treat the revelation as the best gossip to have hit Sun Hill station in years, or judge her for dubious taste in men, or predict that it wouldn't last, even if he might privately have doubts, or look at her as if to say 'what on earth does he see in you?'

"Yeah. He was." Silence hung between them for a long moment, while Millie pondered how to best go about telling him their story.

"Okay, you don't want to talk about it and I won't press you. Just remember that you can always come to me if you need to. I would hate to see you get hurt." But she wanted to talk, she just hadn't realised it before now. Confiding in someone who only knew him as a colleague, and a difficult one at that, would make her feel less isolated. She needed someone to know about them and Roger was her best option, particularly as he seemed to have concluded from her hesitancy that what ever was going on between her and Max was likely to end in her tears.

"We've been together for nearly two years, on and off" she blurted out suddenly, deciding to just go for it. "Quite a bit of it off, but we've been properly back together now for just over six, no seven, months." She took a deep breath. _There, all out in the open_, she thought slightly deliriously. Luckily they had just pulled up at a red light otherwise Roger's shock might have catapulted them into a lamp post.

"Millie! Two years? How on earth have you managed to keep quiet about it?" Millie just shrugged.

"It's not been as difficult as you might think. After all, who would have suspected any thing going on between Max Carter and me?"

"So two years?" Millie could almost see the cogs working out dates inside Roger's head. "Didn't Max disappear about a year and a half ago for a few months? Undercover in Poland wasn't it?" Millie frowned slightly at the deeply unhappy memories of a very bad period in her life and looked away.

"Yeah" she nodded out of the window. "That was the 'off' period and for a while afterwards. It was pretty tough, but we're doing really well now."

"So hang on, I'm just thinking this through. Max's disappearance coincided when you really seemed off-colour. I was worried about you, thought you might have depression. Why on earth didn't you talk to me? I could have helped, or at least have propped you up on the bad days."

Millie shook her head. "There was nothing you could do. I felt so stupid about the whole thing. I didn't know where he had gone or why. He just broke up with me one day and the next he was gone, I didn't know anything more until he came back. All I wanted to do was try to forget he'd ever existed, talking wouldn't have helped. Besides, I came to terms with everything and was fine." Roger looked at Millie compassionately, not believing a word she said. "Okay, I wasn't fine, but I was coping, as best I could."

"But when he returned you got back together?" Roger asked gently.

"Yeah, it took a while and we went really slowly for a long time" Millie smiled at how she had held out on Max for months until she was really sure that she was ready to trust him again. "I love him Roger and he loves me. I know how mad that sounds, but I've never been so happy. Despite everything, it just works."

"Well, if you say so. And there I was thinking you were such a great judge of character! Joke. I think."

"You won't say anything will you? I … we don't want to go public yet. We're good as we are and what with him now being Acting DI, it would be awful timing."

Roger looked at her sceptically. "Are you sure that's what you want? You're not just keeping quiet because he wants to?"

"No! Do you think he's embarrassed about being in a relationship with me?" teased Millie and making Roger colour at his inadvertent faux pas.

"No Millie! That's not what I meant. It's just ..." Roger was searching for the right words "it's just Max is quite a dominant personality. I'd hate you think you weren't equal in your relationship."

"Honestly, he's less worried about it getting out than I am, probably because he couldn't care less what anyone else ever thinks of him, except me I hope. Although I suppose I am starting to realise we can't stay under wraps forever. Something's got to change. Just haven't decided what or how yet."

As the lights changed to green, Roger let the ambiguity of her last comment go but he did wonder what she could possibly mean.


	4. Chapter 4

His foray out of the office hadn't helped. Now, in addition to feeling restless and hemmed in by paperwork, he was guilt-ridden and anxious. Guilty at her accusation that he believed she wasn't up to the job and anxious that one day she might actually find herself in a situation she couldn't handle, despite her own confidence and the ability he knew she had. What if he wasn't there to catch her? He knew his thoughts were beyond irrational, _but that's what love does_, he thought morosely. It was so much easier when he only had himself to think about, but then his life had also been so much emptier. Quite how he felt guilty and anxious, he had no idea, those emotions being generally alien to him, but nonetheless the fact remained that his mind was wracked by both and his earlier agitation only exacerbated.

Max assumed Millie would have returned to the station by now. He wondered whether he would only make matters worse if he went in search of her. Their angry exchange was gnawing at him. He'd struggled to read the same page at least half a dozen times now, but it still made no sense. While that may have been down to Nate Roberts' almost complete inability to write in coherent sentences, he understood so much more about Manson's irritability after just a few days in the job, it was more likely because he just couldn't concentrate. _If we clear the air_, he thought hopefully, _I can get on with the day_. Still he hesitated, but realising in self-disgust that he was guilt-ridden, anxious and now indecisive for God's sake, he grabbed the heftiest looking file from his desk and strode from his office.

Station gossip was rife with rumour that Max Carter wasn't quite such an obnoxiously insensitive bastard after all. He had been seen smiling for several months, one officer swore blind that she had actually seen him laugh warmly, but no one believed her. It was generally assumed that he must have been laughing at someone's misfortune elsewhere, but the smiles were widely reported. Today however, it was a stony-faced Acting DI Carter who stalked the corridors, standing in doorways, his narrowed eyes searching each room for something. One young PC actually picked up the telephone and started talking to a dial tone, just to avoid being barked at. It didn't work.

"Where the hell is PC Brown?" he brandished the file at the young officer who immediately forgot all about the dial tone's query.

"I-in the canteen I-I think" he stammered. Max looked at him oddly, wondering when the Met had started recruiting directly from junior schools and mournfully doubted that his grammar would be any better than that of PC Roberts'. The officer visibly quaked under his stare. "I saw her there five minutes ago" he continued, his voice rising to a squeak and watching with relief as his information seemed to be what his superior wanted to hear and disappear into the corridor.

Millie sat in the far corner of the canteen with Roger sipping tea, still ruminating over that morning's events, still worried. She was aware of his presence the instant he entered the canteen. It was always like that. Roger watched her eyes flit towards the door and swiftly realised that Max was heading directly for their table, file in hand. Judging that it wasn't him that Max wanted to see, he rose, giving Millie a conspiratorial wink. Max didn't appear to notice the look of concern that Roger shot his way as they brushed past each other between the tables. Millie watched on as he approached, holding her teacup close to her lips, giving nothing away. Max felt strangely unnerved by her coolness, knowing he was right that she was still annoyed with him. Bracing himself he sank down sideways into Roger's chair, pushing it back so he rested against the wall. Realising he was still clutching his excuse for finding her he slid the file towards Millie across the table.

"Open it … please" he muttered.

"Why?" She looked in confusion at the name on the file. "I haven't been involved in this case."

"I know that, it was just the first one that came to hand. Just look through it as if we are talking about it."

Millie signed and shut her eyes in irritation. Why should every encounter be secretive? This was exactly what she was getting fed up with, not that she would have admitted that to Roger earlier. Nonetheless, she did as Max asked, teacup in one hand, flipping pages with the other.

"So?" she asked, not looking up at him, her cold shoulder still very much in evidence.

"Wanted to say sorry" he mumbled "couldn't concentrate on anything else until I did." Millie's anger melted at his contrition. Just when she needed him to be as icy as everyone knew he could be to maintain her own _froideur_, he did an about-turn and let down his guard. She stopped pretending to turn the pages, resting her hand on the file, searching for the right words.

"I know" she eventually said quietly. "I know you were only trying to look after me and I guess that's only natural and sort of sweet but I can't do my job if I feel that you are watching my every move in case I screw up."

"It's not that. I'm not watching to see if you screw up or trying to be sweet" particularly horrified at Millie's latest line of attack, "I just don't want you to get hurt. If I ever think that I need to step in to protect you then I'm going to do it."

"So you're not really sorry then?" she responded, but there was a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. Max looked up at her, not sure what to say that wouldn't dig him in even deeper into his hole. He took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

"I'm sorry that I misjudged what was going on and I'm sorry that I didn't let you handle it your way." He watched for her reaction. Millie held his gaze, taking her time in deciding to accept his apology of sorts.

"Okay, it's done now. But you need to back off a little bit, yeah?"

"Can't promise …" but Millie tilted her head and toughened her glare "… but I'll try, okay? That's the best I can do." She softened her expression and her heart at his reluctant retreat, understanding how hard it was for him to agree to any kind of climb down.

"Roger knows" she stated calmly, returning her attention to the pages of the file.

Max breathed a sign of relief and sat back against the wall "Roger knows what?" he asked surveying the near empty canteen.

"About us."

Max's attention snapped back to her, his eyes widening as he registered the information. "How?"

Millie looked up at him in disbelief. "For a man who is supposed to be a celebrated detective, you really are hopeless at seeing what is in front of you sometimes. He was there, he saw everything! I had to tell him, he worked out that something is going on with us and was starting to develop the idea that you were stringing me along."

"He what? What did he see anyway?" Max was struggling to process the revelation that their secret was out on top of everything else this morning had thrown at him.

"He saw you pin Mike up against the wall for no reason and then play nursemaid to me."

"I still don't see …"

"No, well you wouldn't. But he did. Anyway, Roger won't tell anyone, he's not a gossip. But he is concerned about me, which actually is quite nice."

"Is that why he looked at me as if I'd grown two heads just now?"

"Probably. He doesn't understand what I see in you." Millie smiled over her cup of tea, waiting for his reaction.

"I should hope not. He's not my type."

Millie rolled her eyes at his attempt at humour, "that's not what I mean and you know it."

Max smiled and then frowned, remembering something she just said. "Why would he think that I would be stringing you along?"

"I suppose" she smiled as she paused then continued in a whisper "he can't work out what a nice girl like me … is doing with a bad, bad man like you."

"Am I bad?" he chuckled.

"Sometimes."

"What about the rest of the time?"

"Oh then … you're very, very good."

Their whispered exchange might have intensified were it not for the shriek from outside the canteen doors which only just about gave them enough time to sit up straight and look as if they were actually discussing a case. Millie looked across to the group that entered to find Mel staring, her brows furrowed in enquiry. Millie acknowledged her briefly by raising her eyes heavenwards before turning back to the file, hoping her pretence of boredom was enough to eliminate suspicion.

* * *

"How's it going?" asked Millie.

"I think I'm close to committing murder. Of course we couldn't just move the bloody wardrobe from one room to another. We've had to take it apart, piece by piece. Which meant Dad had to find the toolbox, which was behind God knows how much junk under the stairs, years of crap which Mum is now sifting through. Then we had to figure out how to take it apart, move all the bits into the spare room, re-assemble it to find what?"

"She doesn't like it there?"

"I wouldn't mind that so much but it doesn't bloody fit. Neither of them thought to measure the space first!" Millie was convulsed with laughter on the other end of the phone, picturing Max's rage at his parents. "Oh I'm glad you find it funny."

"Sorry, sorry" she begged as she tried to get herself under control. "So you've had to put it back together?"

"Not yet. I've come out for a break and a fag."

"Oh Max, no! You've been doing so well."

"She's driven me to it. You know what she's like." Max winced as he uttered the words.

"Yeah, I know" the laughter had gone, replaced instead by awkwardness. Unfortunately Millie did know what his mother was like because they didn't get on. No, that wasn't entirely true, Max knew it had nothing to do with Millie. There were very few people with whom Millie didn't get on but his mother had taken an intense dislike to her on their first meeting and there had been little contact since. Not that it made much difference to Max, he was happy enough to have a reason for steering clear of his family and was only here tonight under sufferance. His brother was meant to be doing all this but cried off claiming a bad back, _bloody convenient_ thought Max sourly.

"I think it'll be at least another before I'm let out. I can come over then?" he asked changing the subject quickly.

"As tempting as that is, I'm exhausted and in bed already."

Max inhaled deeply on his cigarette and watched the smoke dissipate as he breathed out. "In bed? What are you wearing?" Millie hesitated. She didn't think the answer he wanted was 'the grey t-shirt that you wore yesterday evening and left here by mistake, because it smells of you and makes me feel good.' While she hesitated Max's mind sped into action, conjuring up the possibilities. Perhaps the scrap of gold satin silk that she had delighted him with him just the other evening, or maybe the ivory camisole set that he bought for her birthday, more as present for himself she had joked at the time although she seemed happy to wear it for him judging by the half-moon nail marks she left on his body.

"I think you might need to take a cold shower if I tell you" Millie answered in what she hoped was a purr-like tone.

"It's a chance I'm willing to take …"

"Max? Are you still out there?" demanded Ola, his mother, her lightly accented sharp voice slicing into the intimacy of their conversation.

"Shit! I'm getting fed up with being constantly interrupted every time we talk."

"Well that's the price we pay for secrecy. Your mother?"

"Who else? I'd better go back in, get this finished. The sooner it's done the sooner I can get out of here, even if it's just to my own cold lonely bed."

"Poor you."

"You could at least try to sound sincere."

"I suppose I could, but you'd only read it as an invitation and be banging on my door later tonight."

Max chuckled wryly. "You know me too well."

"I hope so. Now go on and get your mother off your back. I love you."

"Love you too." As they disconnected the call each thought the same thing, they never got tired of hearing those words from the other.

"Max! Are you coming back into to finish this or not? You father needs help."

"He needs a bloody medal" muttered Max mutinously, wishing if only he had the nerve to say it to her face.


	5. Chapter 5

"You look much perkier this morning Miss Millie" chirped Mel brightly. Millie sighed, she hated being 'Miss Millie'. It conjured up an image of a girl scared of her own shadow or an elderly spinster who had missed out on life. Millie certainly didn't consider herself the former and had no intention of being the latter.

"Yeah. Eight solid hours of sleep, amazing what that can do. Sheer bliss."

"So who's been disturbing your nights? Come on, I know you're hiding something."

"Oh Mel, I wish you'd give this up. There's nothing to tell you."

"Really? So why did you sleep so much better last night?"

"Don't know, stroke of luck I suppose."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Max walking behind her, his head bowed to his phone but she knew listening to every teasing word, unable to interrupt or challenge her so-called good luck. Millie knew that he wouldn't regard eight hours of sleep as good, unless he coaxed her body back to life at least once within them. She slowly slipped her parka coat of her shoulders, turning back towards him slightly and catching his eye for the briefest moment. The silent exchange between them would have been invisible to anyone else, but to Max the sight of her striptease made his heart beat just a fraction faster. Not because of what she was removing, or even how she was doing it, it was that she was doing it for him, to him. They held their gaze for just a few seconds, Mel's attention was firmly in her handbag and no one else was paying them any heed. It was almost as if they were alone, just for a moment.

The bubble burst when Terry called out from the far end of the corridor that he had a file Max had been waiting for and with the tiniest of smiles he continued past Millie but couldn't resist placing a surreptitious hand on the small of her back as he went, squeezing between her and the wall. Millie gave a squeal of surprise which she desperately tried to disguise as a cough hoping that Mel wouldn't look up from her bag before Max was far away that she wouldn't make any connection.

"You okay?" Millie was in luck. Mel, as usual, wouldn't notice an elephant in a department store.

* * *

Millie settled down with the log book and her coffee, ready to do battle with the heaving racks of unclaimed and misfiled lost property. It wasn't her favourite job by a long shot, but she was notoriously good at bringing order to the dullest area of the station. She'd rather handle it alone, but Stone had insisted that the new boy help her, to learn the ropes and possibly, or so she hoped, take on the task in future. However, it wasn't Sunil's rather thin hesitant voice that reached her from outside the store room.

"Millie! Millie!" She spilt her coffee at Roger's urgent shout from the corridor.

"What?" she muttered irritably as she brushed away droplets from her trousers before looking up to find her colleague in the doorway.

"Lisa Sumner just called, Mike has abducted Abby. I've already told Smithy, he wants us in the briefing room immediately."

"Oh God, I knew something was going to happen. Oh, I should have stopped him yesterday, I should have got him to talk." Roger placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"You couldn't have known what he would do and you couldn't have stopped him. No one could." Millie raised her hand to her forehead, touching the wound from the day before, remembering Mike's anguish and how little she felt she had achieved.

"It gets worse Millie. Lisa thinks he has a gun."

*******************

"Right, so what do we know, Roger?" Immediately overriding Smithy, Max strode into the room as if he owned the place and quite possibly the souls of the dozen or so officers in it. Sat next to Millie, Sunil gave a tiny squeak of fear which momentarily attracted the scathing attention of the acting DI. Millie nudged Sunil to reassure him and gave him a quick wink to bolster his already meagre confidence before turning her concentration back to the man heading up the search for Mike Sumner and baby Abby.

"Millie and I attended a domestic disturbance at the Sumner's yesterday morning. We'd been visiting an old dear on the floor below and heard more shouting upstairs than you'd normally expect so went to take look. Lisa and Mike were arguing pretty violently, but it wasn't physical. Millie spoke with Mike." Roger looked sideways to Millie, indicating that she should take the story from here. Millie noticed that although Max knew all about her involvement, he refused to look at her, let alone ask her for input. She narrowed her eyes fractionally and intensified her glare at him.

"Mike told me he was medically discharged from the army about eighteen months ago, apparently PTSD. He hasn't really settled to anything since, except drinking, and yesterday found out that his wife had an affair with his best friend and his daughter, well isn't his. It's destroyed him."

"No reason for abducting a child at gunpoint" barked Max. Millie sank her teeth into the inside of her cheek, her nails curling into the palms of her hands. This wasn't going well already.

Roger looked nervously between the two. He hadn't been convinced about their relationship yesterday and this exchange of words wasn't doing much to change his mind. He cleared his throat theatrically, drawing their attention away from each other.

"Lisa" he paused briefly, underlining the seriousness of the situation and demanding their focus return to what he had to say, "called me just a few minutes ago. She left the baby in the car seat with her mother while she ran back upstairs to get a bag, keys in the ignition. They were off to stay with her mother, Janice, for a few days. While she was away, it seems Mike turned up and dragged Janice out of the car. She was sure he had a gun. Nate and Leon were in the area and are bringing the pair of them in, we'll know more when they get here."


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't want to be here. I want to be out there looking for Abby. I've tried ringing him but it goes straight to voicemail, I've left messages but …" Lisa wailed in anguish, appealing to Roger as he, Max and Millie filed in to the soft interview room one by one.

"This is the best place you can be. We can't take any chances if Mike does have a gun, can't risk that he might return to the flat. You're safe here." The implication clear that Lisa and Janice would not be safe at home. Lisa balked visibly at the reality of her situation and sank down onto the sofa, her mother in the adjacent armchair.

"Can you take us through exactly what happened?" asked Max in a voice that was the nearest thing he had to sympathy.

"I loaded up the car. Mum wanted Abby and me to stay with her for a few days, until things had settled down after you know … yesterday." Lisa looked pointedly at Millie. Millie tried to return her look with compassion but it was hard when the other woman seemed to feel uncomfortable, as if sides had been taken despite Millie's assurances to the contrary. "Anyway, we got in, Mum, Abby and me. Then I realised that I'd left all the nappies in the flat, I had everything else but not the nappies, so I nipped back up to get them. I left the engine running … stupid thing to have done." She turned suddenly to Roger. "If I'd taken the keys with me, he wouldn't have been able to drive away."

"Lisa, you couldn't have known he would be there, let alone do this." Roger's comforting tone seemed to calm her as she shook her head sorrowfully.

"Doesn't make it easier."

"No, I suppose not. Go on."

"I didn't see anything until I heard Mum screaming from the car, or at least from where the car had been." Janice reached across and took Lisa's hand.

"I'm so sorry. I should have done more but he just pulled me out of the car, came from out of nowhere and dragged me out. When I looked up I saw it was him and he had a gun pressed to my face. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do. There was no one around although knowing that place" she screwed her features in disgust "I doubt anyone would have helped anyway. So I just screamed and screamed for him to go away, to leave us alone but he threw me to the ground away from the car and got in. He didn't say a word, nothing at all, just drove off." Roger found himself having to turn his attention toward Janice as her distress grew. Millie knew she should sit with them but Lisa's demeanour towards her was so frigid. Roger had her trust and Millie felt she would only get in the way.

"He isn't the same man I loved. He wouldn't talk so in the end I gave up trying, it's become silence or shouting, never anything in between. It was easy to let him think he was Abby's father. He didn't come to any of the scans or midwife appointments while I was pregnant so he didn't have a clue. He didn't notice at all that Abby was at least a month earlier than she should have been. The last time we slept together he was blind drunk anyway" she shuddered with what Millie assumed was revulsion at the memory "don't think he even remembered that we had sex, might just as well not have bothered, it was only for the purpose of fudging the date of conception. I thought he might get suspicious, but he didn't even seem to be aware as one month turned into another." Max, perched on the arm of the sofa, looked down at Millie, obviously puzzled. She mouthed a mimed 'later' at him, with a little inward smile at how naïve men could be. "But you know, from the moment she was born, somehow she gave him a reason to go on. He didn't drink as much, stayed home more often. Still didn't talk to me, but he would walk round and round the flat for hours with her. Abby slept on him more than in her own cot. Everyone said what a blessing to have such a doting daddy, changing nappies, doing milk feeds, but it wasn't right. It was as if he was pouring everything in to her to avoid being with me." Her words were pouring out of her at increasing speed. "Having Abby hasn't brought us closer together, it's driven us further and further apart and I couldn't take it anymore, couldn't carry on living like that so I told him, everything. He went … wild. I wanted to hurt him, I suppose, although it doesn't make any sense now." Lisa paused then looked up at Roger. "That's when you two came in."

"Is there anywhere that he might go? Any friends or family?" asked Max.

"No. I don't think so. Only the local pubs, all of them probably, one after the other. But I couldn't tell you if he has any friends. The army was his whole life. Without that, he's just a shell, or at least he was until Abby came along, and I took her from him as well. That's why he's punishing me." Her last words were whispered to no one in particular but everybody in the room felt their quiet force.

Max and Millie listened intently but both felt awkward intruders into the woman's misery. Max because he really hated these emotional scenes and knew that his lack of empathy was probably his greatest weakness, or at least it used to be. He looked ruefully at Millie, who was concentrating on Lisa, her brow furrowed with tension he assumed was sympathy. But Millie was also far from comfortable. Lisa had looked her way frequently while telling her story but it was clear to Millie that while she was relaxed with Roger, Lisa was apprehensive towards her. Millie couldn't work it out, it didn't make sense, but she dismissed it as irrelevant. _Some women just don't relate well to other women_, she told herself.

"Lisa, we're going to throw everything we've got at getting Abby back to you." Max decided he had had enough of listening to this, in his opinion, tale of self-inflicted woe. There wasn't anything else useful Lisa and her mother could give him, the priority was to locate Mike and retrieve the child quickly, although he did wonder what sort of family she would be returned to.

"But you can't promise to get her back can you?" she responded dully.

"No. I can't promise that, but I can promise that we will do everything possible. Look, Millie and Roger will stay with you here and keep you updated. As soon as we get anything, they'll let you know. If you need something, just ask, okay?" With his back to Millie, he didn't notice the flash of indignation that ignited Millie's features. Swiftly she reigned herself in, if only to maintain the united front for the sake of Lisa's confidence in them. With the briefest of nods towards Lisa and Janice, Max rose from the arm of the sofa. "Roger, Millie, a word please."

As the door closed behind them and they made their way along the corridor, Roger turned to Millie. "Why is she so defensive towards you?"

"I don't know. I mean, I know when we were there yesterday I talked to Mike, not her, but I don't see why that should matter. But I glad you noticed, I thought I was getting paranoid, or had grown a second head. I can't help feeling there is something not quite right about all this, but I've no idea what."

"Could we have a little less of the female intuition and a bit more about the facts we have to hand please" snapped Max more sharply than he intended. He was irritated by how Roger had seen something that had completely eluded him back in the interview room. Now he had mentioned it, it was obvious and that rankled. Millie turned her attention back to Max and regarded him in annoyance.

"Okay, the fact is that we have no way of finding him unless he turns on his phone or suddenly pops up on CCTV somewhere. Which means that we should get out there and track him down through his usual haunts, maybe someone is helping him, maybe someone has heard from him. A long shot, but what else do we have?"

Max nodded his agreement, much to Millie's surprise. She really expected to have to do a lot of convincing.

"Yeah, yeah." Her pleasure at his concurrence however, was short-lived when his attention shifted to someone behind her. "Jo, finish whatever you're doing quickly and get your coat. You're coming with me on this." Millie whirled round to Jo, her mouth open with shock, before spinning back to Max.

"Guv" Jo replied without breaking her stride as she passed the trio, although she couldn't resist a brief glance back as Millie's expression darkened.

"What? Jo?" she hissed. "No, you need to take me. I should be the one to talk to him when we find him. I can get him to trust me, I know I can." But Max was already starting to walk away. She followed him doggedly. "Max –"

"No, no way. You need to stay here with these two. Get as much out of them as you can, anything else that might help."

"It doesn't take two of us to do that and Roger has a far better relationship with Lisa than I have." Max stopped and turned back to her, his chin raised in a way that she usually found endearing and infuriating at the same time. At the moment however, it was just infuriating, beyond maddening in fact. "What's this all about? You know full well that there's no need for me to be here. So what is it? Scared that I won't be able to remain objective? Can't be trusted with a gun-wielding maniac? Do I have to remind you that I have actually done this before?" Her temper was threatening to burst and her throat burned with the effort to keep it together, to not let tears of anger fall and thereby justify his reason for keeping her out of the way.

"Keep your voice down" he ordered through clenched teeth.

"No, I don't think I will." He opened his mouth to speak again but she cut him off. "And no, I haven't forgotten who I'm talking to." The words 'an over-bearing misogynist' very nearly escaped from her mouth, but she stopped herself. Instead tense friction radiated between the two, their eyes glinting dangerously and their breathing laboured. Roger wished he was anywhere but here, relieved when Smith appeared from behind Max.

"Er, what's going on?"

"Can I use your office for a minute Smithy?" Max asked the rhetorical question with his eyes still firmly fixed on Millie and without waiting for a reply he strode in, clearly without any doubt she would follow.

"Uh, yeah, I suppose so" answered Smithy, bewildered by the scene unfolding around him. He shot a look of concern at Millie and made to follow her in, to stand up for one of his own as he would for any member of his uniformed team, particularly in the face of the irascible Max Carter. But Millie turned back to him and with her eyes tightly shut she shook her head in a short jerky movement. When she opened her eyes again, he was still staring, questioning her silently _'what is going on?'_

"It's okay. I'm okay with this."

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

Millie gave Smithy a little smile, hoping he would find confidence in her fortitude. "Tell you what, feel free to come to the rescue if you hear screaming."

"Who? You or him?" Smithy responded, attempting a joke but Millie shrugged enigmatically and turned back to the open doorway, leaving Smithy no clearer as to what was going on between the two.

Max stood at the far end of the room, hands on his hips, impatience palpable. She fixed her gaze on the middle distance before allowing her focus to reach him, coming to rest on his chest and furrowed her brow slightly as she noticed his shirt straining at the buttons. Making a mental note for later, Millie took a breath and steeled herself for the inevitable confrontation, determined to emerge as victor.

"There is a deranged ex-squaddie on the loose with a gun and you think I'm going to take you out there to look for him?" His tone was incredulous.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if I was any other female officer."

"Of course not" Max admitted bullishly "but that's because I don't care about any other female officer the way I care about you." Millie raised her hand to her head in exasperation. "If something happened to you …" he caught himself just in time "I don't think I could stay focussed" he finished, the words sounding woefully inadequate and not even close what he really wanted to say.

"Well then _you_ need to get a grip and find a way to deal with this. You agreed yesterday that you would let me do my job."

"I said I would try" he bit out each word, struggling to keep his cool. She had him on the ropes.

"Well you're not trying hard enough" Millie bit back. "Look, I'm the best chance you've got of talking him down. What are you planning to do? Shout at him until he hands over the child and his gun? Not exactly realistic is it?" Her barrage dripped with uncharacteristic sarcasm.

"What is it with you and him? A two minute chat and suddenly you're his best friend? Come off it. Is he some kind of lost soul that you feel the need to save?"

Millie raised her chin defiantly at his accusation. He knew immediately what she was thinking _'where would you be now if I hadn't been there for you? Who was prepared to save you from yourself?'_ He'd walked straight into that one.

"I'm not trying to save him. I just want to give him a chance to put his life back together."

"Why? He's abducted a kid at gunpoint for God's sake."

"I doubt it was in his plan this time yesterday. Haven't you done things you've regretted, that you wish could undo?" Her last words were spoken softly, she knew she was just a hair's breadth away from his capitulation. Her words were all true. He knew it and she knew that he knew it. Silence took hold of the room, stretching out between them.

"Okay, okay." He ran a hand through his hair, tilting his face up to the ceiling, eyes closed. "If you give me reason to regret this …", Max shook his head slightly. Millie bit her tongue to disguise her triumph. "You stay close to me, unless I tell you otherwise."

"Tell?" Millie bristled.

"Yes, _tell._ I mean it Millie. A step out of line, and I'll send you straight back here. This isn't about you and me squabbling about which film to watch or what takeaway to have. This is about keeping everyone safe. Get changed, I'll see you in the yard in five." Not trusting himself any longer, Max stormed from the office, ignoring the puzzled audience watching the altercation from outside.


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm annoyed. Some of this story is similar to an episode very recently aired in the UK (I don't think that is giving too much away to non-UK readers), but truly, I've had this planned for many weeks__ & simply can't change it all now. As always, thanks for all the messages & reviews, they mean a great deal to me._

* * *

Max looked up from the ground when he heard her heels clacking on the concrete as she descended the ramp from the back of the station. He sucked in his breath through clenched teeth. She wore the skinniest of skinny jeans tucked into knee-high tan leather boots, topped with a fine knit jumper ending at mid-hip, softly clinging to the curves of her breasts and the line of her waist. _Probably cashmere, probably from her mother_, he mused off-guard for a moment. Conservative really when compared to other women out and about in Canley, but as she closed the distance between them, to Max the v-neck of the jumper was a bit too deep and her figure rather too obviously displayed for where they were heading. He could only imagine what the low-life inhabitants of Sumner's watering holes would make of her. His stomach lurched as her warrant card fell to the ground and, pushing her loose hair back she dropped to a crouch to pick it up extending one leg out to the side for balance. He fought against it, but couldn't stop thinking of how she could wrap those legs around him, urging him for everything he could give, daring him with abandonment in her eyes. He didn't know if he could go through with this. As a DS, he'd managed to keep his distance, avoided the cases she was heavily involved with or manipulated Stevie into stepping in for him whenever necessary and he had noticed she had done the same. He had lost count of the times one of her uniform colleagues had replied 'oh it wasn't me, it was Millie Brown' when thanked for providing a piece of information. But Max couldn't keep avoiding her, eventually eyebrows would be raised and questions asked. Besides, they were professionals and had to find a way to work together without putting their own relationship in jeopardy. He simply hadn't realised how hard it was going to be, how hard she was going to make it for him.

Bouncing back to her feet, Millie continued towards him, her expression just as guarded as his. Yesterday he had been unnerved by her irritation, but that was all based on a hypothetical 'you have to let me do my job, to manage difficult situations'. Today what they faced was real life, or death. There really was a man out there with a gun who quite possibly would only deal with Millie and the impotence that left him with terrified Max.

"Maybe you should have stayed in uniform."

"What's that supposed to mean?" meeting his gaze obstinately.

"I mean that it's not a good idea to go into some of the seediest dives in Canley looking like you are out on the pull." Millie stared at him balefully.

"If I wanted to look like I wanted to pull, as you so charmingly put it, I wouldn't wear as much as this." He winced at her sharp retort, where was the softness? Why did she have to be so independent?

"At least put your coat on." Scowling to disguise that her barb had hit target, he motioned towards the army green parka slung over her arm. Millie sighed in frustration, making her decision was getting easier with every passing minute, and threw on the coat, zipping it up to her neck and releasing the waist cord so it resembled little more than a green sack covering her shapelessly from shoulder to just above her knees.

"Satisfied? Or shall I nip back in and get my burkha as well?" More sarcasm, he'd never figured out how to handle that from her.

"Just get in."

* * *

"What are you staring at?" Stevie asked Jo.

"Those two" Jo nodded towards the window out at the figures of Max and Millie clearly not enjoying the continuation of their earlier heated debate. "There's something going on there. Feel it in my bones" she drawled.

"Really? I don't think ever I've ever seen them talk to each other."

"That's what I mean. She wouldn't be having a go like that if she didn't know him a lot better than we think. That looks worse than anything you or I dish up to him and we have to put up with him every day."

"Wonder if this window opens … oh yes, there." Stevie pushed open the glass, nearly toppling out in the process, just in time to hear Max bark his last words at Millie. Unfortunately he swung round also in that moment to see the two women gawping from the open window. He strode over, fury radiating from every pore.

"Have you traced that phone yet Stevie?" he yelled up at the open first floor window.

"Um no, still waiting for TIU to get back to me with its last known location."

"Don't wait, chase them and call me immediately you get any news. And have you tracked down Danny Brydon?" he demanded of a cooler looking Jo.

"I need to speak to someone in military personnel, but I do know he's back on tour in Afghanistan."

"Well rather than staring out of the window, get on with it."

"Yes, Guv" replied Jo with considerable seriousness, not giving away for a second how hilarious she found his evident difficulty in managing quiet little Millie Brown.

Max returned to the car and still seething settled into his seat. "This isn't getting us anywhere" he muttered.

"No, you're right." Max glanced at her and dared to hope that maybe they might call a ceasefire. "You have to turn the key in the ignition and start the engine for that to happen."

"Are you going to be like this all day?" he snapped.

"Probably. Are you?"

Max looked at her in exasperation as she stared straight ahead. He suddenly realised how alike she and her mother were. Looking up at himself in the rear view mirror, he also realised he was wearing the same weary expression as her father. For a moment he caught the ridiculousness of what was going on and chuckled quietly to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing." If that's how it was going to be, so be it. If Millie was going to turn into her mother, he'd be happy enough he thought, after all for a woman in her fifties, Sondra Brown was still pretty hot, although that thought always left him feeling a bit uncomfortable. "I was just thinking how much you look like you mother sometimes."

"Don't change the subject. Let's get on with this." But Millie smiled a little.

Max only realised that he had been so preoccupied with having Millie on-board that he hadn't made any plan of where to go first when they reached the yard gates and he didn't know which direction to take.

"So, where first? You know all about the guy" he couldn't resist the dig but Millie refused to rise to his bait. The problem was that Max couldn't bear to believe that this Mike could occupy any space in her mind, space that he couldn't help wanting to belong only to him. Irrational of course, he knew it was Neanderthal of him, but there it was, she would just have to deal with it.

"Well, the first pub from his flat would be … The Horseshoes I think. Then maybe the Queen's Head and possibly The Fox. They should do for a start." Max hesitated, still struggling to adjust to how Millie was consistently one step ahead of him. "You do know the way don't you, or do you need directions?" Anger, sarcasm and now condescension. Today was just getting better and better.

They drew a complete blank at both The Horseshoes and The Queen's Head, leaving Millie despondent and beginning to doubt herself. It didn't help that Max was getting snappish again, demanding information from bar staff who either didn't give a damn about their investigation or had a barely basic level of English. Yet a tingle had shivered down her spine when Max discovered one of them to be Polish and spoke his second language fluently if without luck, it had that effect on her although in the light of their current animosity she wished it didn't. She'd forgotten what it was like to work closely with him, their methods and often views so diametrically opposed yet away from work it was all so good. She knew he was struggling and she wanted to reassure him, but her pride was in the way, she couldn't give him any reason to pull rank and justifiably take her back to the station.

Their next destination was The Fox, a pub Millie loathed entering. Filthy and depressing, it always seemed to be the place of last resort, when nowhere else would have you, when your surroundings ceased to matter, with only the drink and fellow empty souls for company. Max didn't seem terribly cheery about going in either. He looked to her as they stood before the doors, both steeling themselves for what lay within, as if it might taint them. "Okay?" he asked. She nodded and brushed ahead of him, pushing open the doors. Max closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, why did she have to be so insistent on proving herself?


	8. Chapter 8

Millie felt she had good reason for forging ahead. She'd let Max do all the talking in the previous two pubs, but that hadn't got them anywhere. He was too abrasive and, in a place like The Fox, would only antagonise its inhabitants. Perhaps a more feminine approach would produce a better result. Subtly she unzipped her parka as she walked ahead, thankful when she reached the bar before Max realised.

"What are you doing? I told you to keep covered up" he hissed through his teeth. She glanced at him briefly and took the opportunity of his distraction to call over a man she assumed to be the Landlord. Max noticed the man's eyes rove over Millie as she reached the bar, he swore under his breath at her defiance. She pushed back the unzipped parka slightly to reveal the slope of neck to shoulder, an understated move but a clear signal to Max of how she intended to proceed. Max's attention pulled back to the Landlord who smiled leeringly at Millie and his hackles rose immediately. It was one thing for his peers to look at Millie appreciatively, he could just about cope with that, but the thought of this slime looking at her as if she was a piece of meat, made the blood hammer in his head.

"What can I do for you Miss?" oozed the slime.

"PC Brown actually", she flashed her warrant card together with a bright smile. "And this" she waved her hand back towards Max, "is DS Carter."

"Oh Mr Carter and me are well acquainted" but his tone was less friendly. Max grunted his response, stonily holding the other man's gaze. Millie's smile faltered fractionally as she lost a little confidence, but determined to continue, she quickly regained her composure.

"We're looking for this man" she pushed a photograph across the bar, "Mike Sumner. Have you seen him in the last twenty-four hours?" She could see the Landlord debating with himself over how helpful to be.

_Just a little nudge,_ she thought, _what's the harm in that?_ "Please. It's very important."

Max's fury rose as she breathed the words, leaning ever so slightly over the bar towards the Landlord. He could see the gesture wasn't lost on the other man either, his leer returning twofold while he edged forward in response. Millie fought the nausea assailing her, brought on by his stale breath. She really was too close for comfort, thankful that there was a solid pub bar between them, as much for her to cling to as to separate them. But she kept her nerve stoically. The Landlord held her in suspense, taking a long look from her face down to her cleavage where he lingered, licking his thin lips before finally dragging his eyes back up to hers.

"Well, since you asked so … nicely … over there". He nodded towards a man in the corner of the pub. "Chris Barkley, no idea how well they know each other, but they drink together most days. Both ex-forces I think, he's your best bet."

Millie smiled her thanks, glad that this particular ordeal was finally over although she knew from the raging mass of tension standing next to her that she wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Millie! What the-" he hissed as they turned towards Barkley.

"Not now. Say all you want later, but this is the best lead we've had yet so let's get on with it." She strode off, leaving Max staring after her in her wake. He was furious, naturally, but also something else. He couldn't help but admire her determination to push the boundaries to get her information. He recognised it and had the Landlord been a Landlady, he wouldn't have hesitated to use his own brand of charm to get what he wanted, not that he was prepared to admit it to her. By the time the time he had finished drawing to his conclusion, Millie was already halfway over to the slumped figure in the corner. With a resigned shake of his head and the smallest of smiles, Max hurried over to join her. He was relieved to see that the guy was so spaced out that he didn't seem to notice Millie's gentle attempt at attracting his attention, didn't even notice when she sat down directly in his line of sight.

"Chris? Chris Barkley?" she asked softly. No response.

"Chris Barkley? DS Carter, PC Brown, Sun Hill" snapped Max's voice from behind her, "we need to ask you some questions". That got his attention. He slowly shifted his gaze first to Millie and then up to Max. Contemptuously he raised his glass to his lips, saying nothing. "Do you know this man – Mike Sumner?" Barkley looked at the photograph but remained steadfastly silent, his expressionless face giving no indication of recognition.

"Chris, this really is important. Have you seen him or spoken to him in the last twenty-four hours? We really need to find him."

"Have you seen this man?" demanded Max, leaning over Millie and stabbing a finger at the face in the photo, his patience on its last legs. Millie half turned and laid a hand on Max, asking him to back off and let her handle this. Reluctantly, Max straightened, but his expression was no less foreboding.

"Chris, we think Mike has abducted his daughter at gunpoint –"

"Not his daughter" Barkley interrupted her, slurring his words. "Told me last night. That bitch slept with his best mate and passed the kid off as his. What kind of woman does that?" he asked his pint. Privately Max had to agree, he'd been wondering much the same thing.

"What else did he say?"

"Not much" Barkley shrugged. Millie sat back a little, this was beginning to feel like a dead end.

"Did say that the wife was a shite mother, never seemed to do much with the kid, always chatting with her mates. He said she didn't deserve a kid like that, he was genuinely gutted that she wasn't his." Barkley's last words were spoken with more clarity, Millie seized the opportunity.

"What do you think he meant?"

"Oh I don't know! We'd been drinking for hours by the time he told me what happened."

"Do you think he could do any harm to the child?"

Barkley seemed to consider the question for a moment. "No, I doubt it. Underneath all this" he waved a hand around him to indicate the slum of a pub they were sitting in, "he's a solid bloke, bit soft about the kid in fact. If I were you, I'd be more worried about what he'd do to himself." Millie felt her worst fears resurface. Barkley may have been a drunk, but he probably knew Sumner's frame of mind better than anyone else.

"Is there anywhere that he might go? Please, anything you can tell us could help."

"Why do you care? Oh the kid I suppose."

"Well, yes. She is our priority, but Mike is important too, I don't want to see him get any deeper into this than he is already." Max raised his eyes heavenward and exhaled loudly in annoyance.

"Your mate doesn't agree with you." Barkley gave the glimmer of a smile and beneath the years of tobacco and alcohol, possibly drug abuse as well, Millie saw a once attractive, strong and intelligent man. She wondered sadly just how many Chris' and Mike's there were out there.

She gave him a little wink. "He rarely does" she whispered so Max couldn't make out her words. Barkley regarded her for several long seconds, Millie could almost see his mind ticking over, trying to decide whether he should trust her.

"He's got a lock up on Boundary Road. That's where he keeps his gun. I don't know anything else."


	9. Chapter 9

"What the hell did you think you were doing in there?"

"I don't know what you mean." Millie tried to brazen it out and hurried over to the passenger side of the car but Max caught her arm and spun her round to face him. She took a steadying step back but found herself trapped against the car with Max looming over her ominously, closing the gap so that they were just an inch or two apart.

"You know exactly what I mean. I told you not to flaunt yourself, and that's exactly what you did."

"Flaunt myself? Who the hell do you think you are to tell me how to behave?" Max clenched his fist by his side, fighting against the urge to say 'your superior officer, the man who loves you, the guy you will really get it in the neck from your father if anything happens to you - take your pick.' But he didn't get the chance. "All I did was to manipulate a stupid man who does all his thinking below his belt into giving us a lead. Let's say it was a ropey old Landlady behind the bar giving you the eye, looking you up and down, don't tell me you wouldn't have given her a bit of a wink, a suggestive smile even. Of course you would. We both know how far you've gone before in the line of duty." Damn, she was being sharp today, she didn't show her teeth often but when she did, she was a good match for him. "Okay for you, but because I'm a woman, it's flaunting myself, right?" Max's anger was deserting him, of course she was right but it didn't mean he had to let her get away with it. It didn't help that watching her in such glorious full-flow was making his blood race. What he would give to take hold of her right now and silence the antagonism she was directing at him, he'd enjoy that a whole lot more than this.

"I can't help it if I don't like having to stand by and watch scum like that salivate over you." Millie softened slightly at this rare display of self-exposure. "Besides, it's not professional to lean over the bar with half your chest pouring out." She narrowed her eyes, he just couldn't help himself could he?

"Don't… you… dare give me a lesson in professionalism. Would you like me to recount how often you've stepped over the line, and those would only be the times you've told me about. I imagine there's a lot more in your past that hasn't come up. Yet." That stopped Max in his tracks for a split second, wondering what she could mean, had she found out something? No, no chance of that. He brought his attention back into focus.

"It wasn't appropriate" he stated firmly but Millie's glare was winning the battle and he looked skywards with a deep breath. The tension in his head was beginning to hurt. He rubbed his forehead with his eyes closed.

"You know, sometimes I really don't know what I see in you-". Max abruptly stared back at her in horror, barely believing what she had just said to him but her mobile phone rang interrupting whatever else she was going to continue with. She looked at the display, unable to recognise the number flashing before answering.

"PC Brown… Mike, is that you? I can't hear you, you need to speak up." She flashed a quick look at Max who didn't seem to be quite taking in what was going on. She turned away pushing him aside, he was too distracting and it was hard enough to make out what Mike was telling her without also trying to work out why Max was suddenly being so odd. "Mike, speak up. Where are you? Are you both okay?" Max dragged himself back to Millie's conversation but not knowing what Mike was saying left him frustrated. "Yes, of course I can meet you … no, sorry not alone. I'm with a colleague and there's no way he'd let me." Max felt momentarily bolstered by that. "But I'll make him stay back, so it can be just you and me, we can talk for as long as you like." Max slammed his fist down on the car roof and Millie jumped. "Yeah, yeah, I know it. I'll be about five minutes, stay there and wait for me, okay? Okay Mike? Don't do anything." With the call over, Millie looked back at Max. "He wants to talk to me."

"So I gather. Where?"

"Top level of the multi-storey car park on Higham Road." Millie hurried round to the passenger door. "What are you waiting for?" she called to Max who hadn't moved as she got in. Max yanked opened his door aggressively and joined her. There was no point arguing with her now but he had no intention of letting her anywhere near Mike Sumner unless he was by her side.

*****************

Millie had the car door open before they came to a standstill across the exit ramp of the top floor of the multi-storey car park.

"Wait! Millie, wait!" But she wasn't listening and certainly wasn't thinking rationally, at least in Max's opinion. She leapt out, leaving the door open behind her and made for the red Astra parked at the far end. Max swore under his breath and headed after her, rapidly closing the distance between them. He grabbed her wrist from behind and pulled her to a halt.

"No! Let me go Max" she demanded, trying to twist free of his grip, clawing at his fingers with her other hand.

"You can't go over there. What do you think you are doing? Back-up will be here in a couple of minutes and we'll negotiate with him. He can't go anywhere now." Millie kept twisting away from him, his words failing to register, all she could think of was getting over to Mike, to bring this whole sorry mess to an end. To persuade him to listen to reason and hand over the child and the gun. Something in her head niggled that it was an illogical plan, that she should wait with Max and follow standard procedure but she dismissed it, replacing it with the heartfelt belief that if CO19 turned up, toting their guns, Mike would feel cornered and could do anything. If she could get to him first, she was sure she could make him see sense.

Max tightened his grip on her wrist, but he knew his fingers were hurting her as she winced in response and automatically lessened the pressure. It was just enough for her to withdraw her arm inside her sleeve so that by the time he realised his error he held only the cuff of her parka.

His mind raced three steps ahead. He could certainly keep hold of her, physically she was no match for him although he'd probably have to drag her to the ground in the process, but she'd never forgive him. Conflict spun round and round in his head. Let her go, and risk her safety, but let her live her life the way she wanted, or trap her here with him and deny her free-will for his own selfish reasons. Even while his mind vacillated between the two, his fingers released her sleeve. He stared at her, lips parted, shocked by his own action. Millie was no less stunned and for a moment stood stock still, anticipating his next move, not believing that he would allow her this. However, when she realised that he wasn't going to stop her she took a step backwards and whispered her thank you before turning back to the car containing Mike and the baby.

"Millie?" Max called out into the silence.

She closed her eyes. _Here it comes_, she thought.

"Answer your phone when it rings." She looked back over her shoulder in confusion.

"Please. Just do this for me." His voice was pleading, smaller than usual. She could feel his fear. The emotion threatened to choke her, her throat tightening at the knowledge of how much he must love her to let her do this, against his every instinct. She nodded, unable to trust herself to speak and turned away again.

Her phone rang as she was a few feet away from the car. Knowing who it was she answered immediately.

"Don't hang up. Put the phone in your pocket." Millie smiled ruefully. She should have known he would plan something like this. That he would not allow her to be with Mike entirely on her own, he would be there listening, a silent companion. Oddly though, she didn't mind the compromise and did as he asked without looking back. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she walked on.


	10. Chapter 10

Millie continued towards the aging Astra and with each step felt Max's eyes burn deeper into her back. She knew how big a deal this was for him. They had been at war with one another for the last few hours and she should feel victorious, but she didn't. She felt rather small and now that Max had actually given her the chance she had fought for, Millie wondered whether she really was up to it. This was unlike any situation she'd been in before, her own kidnapping had been completely different – a bungled effort by a pair of brothers who should never have been entrusted with the task in the first place. Here she was walking into a confined space with a trained killer on the verge of complete breakdown, if he hadn't already broken down. Why did she think that she would be able to do this? But there was no going back now. Mike had chosen to call her, to ask for her help. She couldn't let him down and hide behind Max's unsympathetic bravado and the guns of CO19.

Millie could see Mike watching her approach and in readiness unlocked the passenger door from the inside, allowing her to get in. Mindful of the phone in her pocket she slid in and closed the door after her. Neither adult occupant knew what to say at first. The baby in the back simply snuffled peacefully in her sleep, aided by a garish pink dummy.

"Do you mind if I open the window, just a bit?" asked Millie, breaking the ice after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah, whatever" shrugged Mike. Millie wondered abstractly when she had last 'wound down' a car window. Everything was electric these days and rotating the window handle somehow reminded her of the safety of her childhood. She shifted in her seat and took another quick look at the sleeping child before settling back.

"How have you been?"

Another shrug.

"Where have you been?"

"Does it matter?" He snapped. Millie frowned.

"Everything matters. How _you_ are matters. I'm not just here to convince you to give yourself up, I want to see you come out of this and move on."

"Move on? What kind of psycho-shit is that? _If_ I come out of this," Millie shut her eyes for a moment, trying to block out that 'if', "I'll be going straight inside, for having this to start with." He waved the gun in his hand close to her face.

_Don't do that!_

"Please don't do that."

"What?"

"Please don't wave the gun around. Someone will get the wrong idea and jump to the wrong conclusion."

_Good girl._

"Who will?" Millie inclined her head towards her window. Mike leant forward to see who she was gesturing at. Max had walked forward several paces. "Who is he on the phone to?"

"Probably our Superintendant back at the station."

_When did you get so cool about lying?_

"Is anyone else here? You said it would be just you and him."

_You're a fool if you believed that._

"Mike, Janice told us you had a gun." She decided against telling him that Barkley had confirmed it. Instinctively she knew he would take that as another betrayal. "We have to follow procedure and the armed unit will be here in a couple of minutes, if they're not already." Millie looked out, but she couldn't see any sign of life behind Max yet.

"But you said –"

"I know. I'm sorry, but he" she gestured back to Max again "insisted on calling it in while we were on our way over. He's a bit overbearing like that …"

_I'm what? __Overbearing? After all I've had to put up with today …_

"… but he had to and I shouldn't have said otherwise. I just wanted to get here." Millie held Mike's gaze apologetically until he looked down and slumped sideways against his seat.

"I suppose you only did what you thought right…" It was Mike's turn to frown. "Is he the same guy that was in my flat yesterday?" he asked suddenly.

"Umm yes."

"Wanker."

_Bastard._

"Who did he think he was barging into my property?"

"He was just being protective of me. You mustn't read anything more into it than that."

_Oh yes you should._

"Protective?" Mike was puzzled. "Oh, are you and him …?"

"Yeah. We are."

_Yeah. We are, so __don't push my patience._

"No wonder he looks so pissed off."

Millie turned to look out at Max, still with the phone held to his ear. "Hmm? Oh he usually looks like that. I hardly notice now."

_I'm not pissed off, I'm terrified.__ There is a difference._

Mike gave a tiny exhaled laugh. "See, made you smile."

_This is__ no time for comedy, Millie._

"I haven't had much to smile about for a long time, except …" he tailed off. Millie knew that the 'except' was the girl in the back of the car. "So what are you going to do?" his tone turning unpleasant, the fleeting easiness immediately forgotten. "Tell me that everything will be okay, that I should go back to playing happy families?"

"No. We both know that isn't likely. I wish I could assure you that everything will be okay, yet here we are and you have a gun. But you can make this easier on yourself. All you need to do is step out of the car with your hands in the air and it's all over." Millie cringed inwardly. The words sounded simplistically naïve, even to her and she regretted them instantly as his demeanour worsened.

"Except that it won't be" he spat harshly, "I'll still have nothing, not even her anymore. What's the point of being here?" Millie realised exactly what he meant and a cold shudder ran through her.

"Then you have to rebuild" she pleaded. "Rebuild yourself, your life. Start again Mike, people do this all the time, even when there seems to be no point."

"And what makes you such an expert? What do you know about it?" He grabbed her upper arm painfully and jerked her body towards him, the gun suddenly resting at her temple.

_Shit, __Millie!_

Millie froze, the familiar feelings of fear and shock overwhelming her. She closed her eyes and took a long shuddering breath, playing for time, gathering her wits. She prayed Mike would back down and Max wouldn't overreact in equal measure. "It's okay, it's okay", she spoke softly, hoping her words would reassure the man at the other end of the phone line. Forcing her voice to remain calm, she continued, "I know quite a lot about it. Him, over there, he's done stuff, things that I won't go into."

_Millie, no!_

"Not relevant,"

_No, it's not__ bloody relevant, so don't say anything._

"… but it left him kind of broken. I was so scared for him, I can't tell you how scared. So scared that I threatened to finish with him for good if he didn't take the help being offered to rebuild himself, and us. The only way I could get through to him was to make him more scared of losing me than of therapy."

_And you succeeded._

"I'm not saying he was exactly where you are right now, but I can see some of him in you." Millie breathed a sign of relief as the pressure from the gun eased and his hand dropped from her arm allowing her to fall back into her seat.

_He's nothing like me__._

"The obstinacy, pride, fear. And if he can get through his darkest times, then so can you."

_Obstinate? That's rich …_

"But he has you. Who do I have?" his tone was now dull, empty.

"There must be someone? Parents, other family?" He shook his head. "Then I'll help you."

_No you bloody won't._

"You can call on me whenever you need to."

_No he bloody can't._

"Oh Millie Brown, if only it was that simple. If only you could be my guardian angel who makes everything alright again."

_She's not yours, she's mine._

"Maybe things weren't right in the first place. Maybe you need to make a new future for yourself. Start again away from here."

"Won't make any difference, can't erase the past, what's in here" he tapped a finger to his head.

Mike and Millie looked at each other for several seconds. Millie searched for something to say that would give fresh ammunition for her fight. She sensed that Mike was willing her to find it, but a rumble of noise, growing louder from outside the car interrupted their thoughts. Millie twisted round to see with dismay the crowd gathering at the far end of the car park. She could just about make out a few uniform officers and the tell-tale van containing CO19. She knew they would be here before long, but had hoped for more time. Quickly she turned back to Mike.

"Look, armed officers are here. But they won't come any closer." Her comment directed at the phone in her pocket rather than to Mike.

_They'll do what I say._

"Why don't I take Abby and hand her over to one of my colleagues, then I'll come straight back here. We can talk some more, as long as you like.

_No way__._

Mike snorted derisively. "Really? If I let you take Abby, the moment you both go, those bastards will be all over me."

"They won't do anything unless you give them reason to. And I promise, I will come back." Millie bit her lip, she had to get the child out. That at least would go in his favour. "Please, if you let me take her over there, everyone will be a lot less … jumpy." His face was unreadable, she had no idea if he was coming round to her suggestion. "Come on Mike. You can't hurt this child, or me, I just don't believe you would. I believe you are a better man than that." Mike looked back at the girl only the day before he knew to be his daughter, more precious to him than anything else on earth. He watched her snuffle and slowly stir from her sleep.

"She's due a feed soon."

"Then let me take her over to one of my colleagues. They'll make sure that she's okay."

"And take her back to Lisa?"

"Yes." Millie chewed her lip in the silence, desperately hoping that wouldn't inflame him again.

The silence lengthened before he finally spoke quietly, "I suppose that's how it should be." He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. "Do it."

"Mike –"

"Just do it."

_Just do it Millie__, get out of there, please._

Millie paused for a moment longer before getting out of the car and opening the rear door. She reached in to grapple with the baby seat harness holding Abby in place, her shaky fingers clumsy with the button on the buckle.

_Quickly Millie._

"Aren't these things awkward?" she laughed nervously, her eyes flitting up to Mike, but he was staring into the middle distance, as if he was no longer with her. "I suppose they're easier if you have to do them every day, but … oh yes, there we are."

_Stop rambling._

"Mike, I'll be back in a minute or two. Please, don't do anything." He shifted his gaze back to her.

"You're a good woman Millie Brown. I hope he appreciates you. I wish …" but he didn't finish the sentence and Millie already had the child in her arms within the car, she couldn't hang on for him to continue.

"Wait for me" she pleaded.

Millie lifted the waking baby out of the car and with a final look back at Mike, who had returned to staring out of the windscreen, she started to walk towards the gathering throng, clutching the warm bundle firmly to her body. She wasn't more than a few feet away when the single gunshot ripped through the silence.


	11. Chapter 11

Penultimate chapter ...

* * *

Millie shut her eyes tightly as if hoping to block out what she knew had just happened even without looking back. Sorrow and anguish slowly trickled through her veins, spreading to every part of her body. She felt cold, her limbs leaden and her mind unable to generate coherent thought. When she opened her eyes again, they immediately locked on to his, drawing her over to him, her feet instinctively carrying her forward towards the safety he could give her. No words were exchanged, there were none to suit. She was stopped short of her haven by a pair of hands accompanied by a familiar kind voice taking the child from her but without the baby's warmth she was even colder. She faltered, all that kept her standing was the constancy of his gaze.

Max forgot about the colleagues around them and the carefully kept secrecy of their relationship. His only thought was to absorb her grief and without interest in how his actions would look, he closed the distance between them, enveloping her into him. She buried her face into his neck, breathing him in with great shuddering gulps, her arms wrapped around his body under his jacket. His hands held her to him, one at her back and the other at her head, his fingers in her hair, clutching her so firmly that she couldn't move. Not that she wanted to. For as long as she stayed here, she didn't have to understand what had just happened.

Max didn't know what to say that could possibly soothe her. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, feeling her fingers dig into his back. The wetness of her tears dampened his shirt but gradually her shaking subsided and she made to pull away. She looked up at him, her eyes so full of agony that he would give anything to take away. Millie tried to turn her head in the direction of the car but he held her firm, refusing to allow her to see the scene behind her. The Astra windows splattered with Mike's blood, his body slumped lifelessly in his seat.

"Don't look. I don't want you to remember him like this. I don't want you to have this picture in your head. " It wasn't lost on him that for the first time that day she didn't fight him, she simply closed her eyes and tipped her forehead back into his chest. Activity reigned about them - officers setting up a cordon, onlookers jostling to get a better view, flashbulbs popping ghoulishly. Yet two people stood gripping each other as if they were completely alone, oblivious to the surrounding commotion.

After a while, Max had no idea how long, he was aware of a hesitant voice trying to attract his attention.

"Um, Guv? … Sir? …"

Max looked up to see Sun Hill Station's resident teenager nervously standing behind Millie. "Yes?"

Sunil gulped before continuing shakily, "the Superintendant wants to speak to you, says he can't get through on your number."

"Okay, thanks." Max paused, "Sunil, please can you take Millie back to the station?" he asked quietly, the young officer's eyes opening wide in shock that Max had both acknowledged him and knew his name. "Go back Millie, I'll get away from here as soon as I can" he whispered into her ear.

* * *

"How are you bearing up?" Smithy touched Millie's arm sympathetically. Unfortunately it was the arm Mike had gripped and was feeling tender now the adrenaline had well and truly left her system.

"Fine, sort of" she replied, doing her best not to show her discomfort.

"Max is after a few details about what happened when you were alone with Sumner. He wants to see you in his office, give me two minutes and I'll come up with you."

"It's okay. I'll be fine on my own."

"I'm sure you would be, but I'm still coming with you."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I don't want you to get railroaded," was the diplomatic reply.

Millie sighed and shrugged her shoulders, exhaustion was taking hold. Yet another well-meaning chauvinist and she wasn't in a position to answer back to this one, even if she'd had the energy. "If you really think it's necessary."

Less than five minutes later, Millie found herself herded into Max's office. She noticed he was clearly put out at Smithy's presence. Max, in fact, was dismayed when Smithy immediately followed Millie into the small room. He had only wanted the opportunity to get her alone to catch up with her, to know how she was doing and hopefully take her home, if she would let him. Instead, he had to quickly rethink his words, he needed an alternative reason to have Millie sent to him. In such virgin territory he resorted to what he knew best and came most easily. Attack.

"You deliberately disobeyed my instructions today, both at The Fox and then when we got to Sumner." In retrospect, he knew it was a poor response to his predicament, but it was the best he could come up with. Smithy stiffened instantly but at least Millie didn't appear to be taking much notice, she simply chewed her lip and stared down at the floor beside her.

"Er, I don't think this is the right time for this conversation. I thought you wanted to clear up a few details for the file before Millie goes home. 'This' can wait for another day."

Max bristled at Smithy's defence of Millie. "She put herself in danger and could have hampered efforts to rescue the child if Sumner had turned nasty."

"From what I have heard, she had an established rapport with him and used her initiative," Smithy retorted firmly.

Millie listened to her two superior officers argue over the top of her and sighed. It seemed that while their conversation was about her, she wasn't permitted to have a role in it. She rested an elbow on the desk next to her and allowed her head to drop into her hand, her fingers lacing into her hair, as she watched them square up to each other in a ridiculous display of machismo. Naturally she was drawn to Max, hands on hips, his chest puffed out with his own brand of arrogance, generally saved only for special occasions these days, days like this. She furrowed her brows slightly as an earlier thought returned to her.

"Please, stop." She looked up at Smithy plaintively. "He's right. I haven't been objective today. Thought I knew best, wouldn't listen to anyone else. If I had, then maybe …"

"Are you blaming yourself, Millie?" Max's voice held a note of uncharacteristic anguish that made Smithy snap back to him in astonishment at the sudden change in tone. Surely that wasn't concern for another human being, was it? "You gave him every opportunity to walk away." There it was again, Smithy's mouth gaped in disbelief. "Sumner made his own decision. Nobody could have done any more or better for him than you did."

"Mike. His name was Mike. He was just an ordinary man who had bad things happen to him. He … he didn't deserve to have his life fall apart like that."

"You are not responsible for the decisions other people make." Max left his position against the filing cabinets and crouched down in front of Millie. He took her hand in his. Smithy shifted uneasily and wondered if any of this was real or whether it was a dream. If it was the latter, why the hell did it have to have Max Carter in it? He watched on uncomfortably as Millie's tired, melancholic eyes looked down into Max's concerned ones. Deciding that although this felt surreal, it definitely was happening, he coughed self-consciously.

"Er, is there something going on here that I don't know about?"

Max reluctantly broke away from Millie's eyes, turning back to Smithy. "Can you give us a few minutes? Please?" That told him all he needed to know. "Millie and I could do with a bit of time …" The earlier altercation between Max and Millie now made sense to Smithy. Max hadn't been trying to exclude Millie from the operation because he didn't rate her ability, he'd been trying to protect her and while it wasn't precisely rational, Smithy knew he would probably have done exactly the same thing.

"Uh, yeah. Well, let me know if you need me, for … um … anything" he mumbled awkwardly as he left the office.

* * *

Stevie and Jo had been straining to hear what was going on since the first raised words. Their interest peaked when suddenly Max disappeared from view, leaving only Smithy standing and Millie's head visible through the blinds above the half wall of the office. Jo raised her eyebrows at Stevie when Smithy exited, carefully and deliberately shutting the door behind him.

"Definitely something going on" mused Jo out loud.

"Hmm" agreed Stevie, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Might have to do a little bit of detective work here … otherwise known as digging for gossip" and with that, off she set hard on the Inspector's heels.


	12. Chapter 12

Well, this is the last chapter …

* * *

Still holding her right hand, Max reached up and gently prised the other from her head, bringing both to her lap and giving her little alternative but to look down at him.

"I thought you'd agreed to put that shirt out for charity."

"What? Why?" Max was completely bewildered by her random comment. He looked down at his chest. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's too tight. The buttons look like they are about to pop when you puff yourself up."

"Puff myself up? What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes, recognising what she was doing. "Are you trying to change the subject?"

She pulled her hands away and rubbed each arm. "I don't like this subject anymore, don't want to talk about it. I think I'd just like to go home" she mumbled.

Noticing how she was flinching at her own touch he asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, but the bruises will show tomorrow."

"Did Sumner … Mike hurt you?"

"Only this arm a bit, you did this." She showed him first the marks on her wrist "and this," then pushing up her sleeve, her other upper arm. He traced his fingers over the faintly coloured patches of skin. "You know I bruise easily" her voice little more than a whisper as his caress began to ease the soreness and melt her defences.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. Sorry about a lot of things today."

"Why? You were right. I should have waited."

After everything they had been through in the previous few hours, Millie's self-doubt tugged at him. "I've never been so terrified as when you got in that car" he admitted softly, "and never so relieved as when you got out of it again. If anything had happened to you …" he couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't form the words that would fix an image in his mind of her lying injured or worse still, dead. "I understand how it feels, you know." Millie did. If there was anyone who knew how she felt, it was him. The undercover operation in Poland had left him haunted by the faces of people who lives he had scarred, and deaths he had permitted.

"I know" she whispered, nodding her head. "I suppose I understand a bit more now as well."

"I wish you didn't" he replied sadly, taking her hands again. "I'd give anything for you not to understand, but you must remember none of this is your fault." She withdrew a hand from his and cupped his cheek, her thumb stroking his skin, now roughened with a day of stubble.

"But I should have listened to you. Maybe someone else could have …"

"No. You did the right thing" he conceded, "even if it doesn't seem that way at the moment. Does any of this sound familiar?" Millie smile was tinged with sorrow. His words were indeed familiar, she had spent months convincing him of much the same thing. Neither spoke for a while, the skin to skin contact saying everything that needed to be said. Eventually though, he couldn't contain his anxiety at her niggling words that had been eating away at him for the past few hours any longer. "You … you said something earlier" he broke off, not knowing how to ask her without sounding trivial or self-obsessed.

"Go on" she prompted gently.

"You said, outside The Fox … you said that you didn't know what you saw in me." He cringed at just how petty he sounded, but there, it was done now and it was up to her to explain, he'd just have to take it.

"Did I?"

He nodded.

"Oh yeah. Well, you can be infuriating … and insensitive… and judgemental, but then you smile at me… I couldn't imagine you being any other way and I don't want you any other way. I love you," she placed a hand on his chest, "all of you, good and bad." Pausing momentarily, it seemed the right moment to tell him about her decision. "But _this_ isn't going to work." Max stopped breathing. "I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks, especially the last couple of days. I've decided … I'm going to request a transfer." Max exhaled his held breath loudly in relief that she hadn't told him that they were over, but his apprehension resurfaced immediately.

"Why? Where to?"

"We can't keep avoiding each other here forever. And I certainly don't think we can work alongside each other."

"Yes we can!"

Millie looked at him reproachfully. "Only if that means you confine me to the station to trawl through CCTV for you. Or bring you files and coffee all day. I can't and won't do that." Max hung his head with a degree of shame, her assessment of him was, as usual, correct. "I was thinking, maybe I could go to Barton Street, or Stafford Row. Still in Canley, just not in the same station."

"But we wouldn't see each other, sometimes for days" panic spread in him. Perhaps she was trying to put some distance between them after all.

"Well, that was the other thing I was thinking about. I wondered, and say no if it's not the right time, or anything, but …" she chewed her lip anxiously.

"But what?"

"I wondered if you would like to move in with me. I suppose it'd mean everyone will end up knowing about us before long, but if we weren't working together, it wouldn't really matter any more, would it?"

Max stared at her in stunned silence before breaking out into one of the rarest of things, an ecstatic, joyful smile. Millie basked in the heat of that smile, finally feeling warmth again.

"I thought you were going to finish with me."

"How could you think that Max? I just told you -" but he interrupted her, pulling her down for a slow tender kiss. Coming up for air a while later they rested their foreheads against each other, the earlier trauma fading. "Well?" she breathed, "you haven't answered my question." Max was just about to reply when a loud knock on the door burst their bubble.

"Shit" he muttered looking up to see Jo peering through the blind from outside, "we need to finish this later, but yes." He tried to bounce back to a standing position, but stiffness from crouching at Millie's feet for so long had set into his legs that he nearly lost his balance as he yelled out for Jo to enter.

"Bones getting old?" teased Millie under her breath.

Max was gratified to note that if Jo suspected anything unusual had been going on, she wasn't showing it. Instead, her expression was professional, if grave.

"What is it Jo?" asked Max as behind him Millie stood, needing to stretch her own legs.

"Something you probably ought to know has come up, not that it makes a lot of difference now ..." she trailed off, looking nervously at Millie who had taken up Max's former position against the filing cabinet.

"Well?" Max was getting tired. He just wanted to take Millie home, put her in a hot bath and then make love to her. He couldn't think of a better way to distract her from the day's events.

"I've just heard from Danny Bryden. If he is telling the truth, and I've no reason to suspect otherwise having spoken to him for quite a while, he's certainly no fan of Lisa Sumner by the way, there's no way he could have been the father of that baby. Danny contracted mumps when he was twenty-two, wasn't inoculated as a child, which left him sterile. He told me that we're welcome to check his medical records, so either Lisa slept with someone else or she lied and –"

"Mike was the father all along" interjected Millie weakly. "She is the image of him."

Max watched Jo grow concerned as Millie spoke. He spun round and crossed the distance in an instant. Just as Millie's knees buckled beneath her, he caught her for the second time in as many hours. She crumpled against his body, allowing him to take her weight. She'd started to come to terms with Mike's death albeit knowing that it would be a long time before the sadness she felt abated. But now, now knowing it was because of a cruel lie? She felt crushed by the pointlessness of it all. "Abby was his all along."

"We can't know that for sure."

"I do. I know."

"But it doesn't change anything." Max held her tightly, nodding at Jo over her head to leave. Jo took the hint quietly, any satisfaction she might have derived from uncovering Max and Millie's secret obliterated by Millie's devastation at the news she had brought.

"Why do people lie, Max?"

"I don't know."

He lied.


End file.
